Page 205 of The Night Shift

I dig my phone out of my clutch, scroll to the lame haiku text, and hold it up so he can see. “Does this read a bit off to you?”

He squints at the screen. “I mean, aside from the general eeriness, the punctuation is bloody pathetic.”

“That’s it? Nothing else?”

He straightens. His gaze hooks into mine — soft and concerned. “Does it sound off to you, my love?”

“I don’t know. It just…I feel like I’ve read this before, you know? Like a weird case of déjà vu. But that doesn’t make any sense, obviously. It’s just a stupid gut feeling —”

He snatches the phone from my hand mid-sentence, now inspecting it more sincerely. “They used ‘4’ instead of ‘for.’”

“So? It’s just an abbreviation. People use that all the time.”

Theo shakes his head. “No, you were right. This does seem off.” He navigates quickly through the thread. “Every other message is clean. Capitalized, punctuated, and doesn’t look like it was written by a second grader.”

“What are you saying?”

“This isn’t written by the same person.”

“It isn’t the same person?”

He hums, still thinking. “Maybe. Or maybe it’s two people working together. People don’t change their texting style overnight, Holly. Not even to maintain anonymity.”

Fucking amazing. Just what I needed. An additional stalker to add to my already fast-growing list.

Theo locks my phone with a snap and hands it back. His fingertips brush against my knuckles. “This is good. We’re one step closer to figuring out who this bastard is.”

“One step is not enough. I need to figure out who it is now. Before someone else I care about gets hurt again.”

My gaze betrays me before I can leash it, drifting to his hand, still bound and bruised. Still healing.

When I look back up, he’s already got his eyes on me.

The silence between us sharpens.

I look away. “I’m gonna go check on April one last time. See if she needs anything before the ceremony.”

Theo’s hand closes around my wrist.

I look back.

The cocky tilt to his mouth is gone. His eyes are steady on mine — less smug, more soft. His thumb brushes the inside of my wrist, a slow, absent-minded movement that makes my pulse jump. I hate how much I like it. How my body instinctively leans in just the tiniest bit.

“If you’re going to give me a pep talk about how it’s all going to be okay, I’m gonna punch your nose with the intent to break it.”

“This is not the time to flirt with me, Holly.”

I roll my eyes.

He smiles and lets go of my wrist only to cup my cheek. “Have you eaten anything today?”

I purse my lips, despite finding myself leaning into his touch. Hating how good and safe it feels to simply be here with him. “Shouldn’t you already know the answer to that? Or are you suddenly rusty now that there’s another creep in the picture?”

“I do know the answer to that, but I figured giving you the illusion of being in control would make you feel better.”

“I hate you.”

His thumb brushes my skin. “Yeah, yeah, you can stab me later to show me how much.” His fingers thread into my hair, settling at the back of my neck, and it’s so annoyingly nice. Calming in a way nothing else has been today. I don’teven realize that I’ve moved closer until my forehead’s pressed against his chest. He smells like citrus.